FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Mets' interim manager Jerry Manuel has done a superb job since taking over for his predecessor, the much-maligned Willie Randolph. Manuel has revealed himself to be a completely different baseball thinker, and thus, he's anything but a "Willie guy."

However, as is naturally the case with any coach in professional sports, Manuel is far from perfect. No manager can make the correct move in every situation, so all we can ask for is logic, and maybe a tactical adjustment here and there. Let's take a closer look at Jerry Manuel -- the good and the bad.

Right: Jerry plays the hot hand.

No matter who it is, from Nick Evans to Robinson Cancel, Manuel rewards his players for a helpful performance the night before. This is a reasonable phenomenon that failed to exist during the Willie Randolph era. Willie was always one to "stick with his guys," and if Angel Pagan was the starter of the month in left field, even if he went 0-5 with 4 K's the previous game, you would see him out there the next day. Endy Chavez may have made a spectacular play as a late-game defensive replacement, but it wouldn't earn him any points for the next contest. 

Willie tried to let the numbers even themselves out by leaving his guys out there, but sometimes good things come in bunches. Manuel has extracted everything he can from guys like Fernando Tatis, Damion Easley, Argenis Reyes, and Daniel Murphy. He's done so by riding out their hot streaks. Let them gas themselves out, don't assume it will happen before it does.

Wrong: The way Jerry has handled the bullpen in the absence of Billy Wagner.

Manuel was right to recognize that Aaron Heilman has the best stuff of the remaining bums he has in his bullpen, but he's far from the most reliable. Mets fans will have to agree that after Wagner, lefty sidearmer Pedro Feliciano has been the most consistent reliever in New York's bullpen over the course of the past few seasons. 

Granted, Feliciano struggles against righties, but not as mightily as Heilman does against lefties. Also, it makes the most sense to simply play the match-ups. If the opposing team has a couple of lefties due up out of the first three in the ninth, then there's no question that Feliciano should get the call. Manuel should cross his fingers and hope Feliciano can work through the righty in the order, and if he does so, Pedro's a lock. With his deceiving frisby slider, he rarely ever has to worry about the left-handed hitters.

If more righties than lefties are due up in the ninth, Eddie Kunz should be Manuel's guy. To be honest, in the little I've seen from Kunz, I haven't been blown away. However, he is throwing consistently in the 93-96 mph range, and his ball has a hard, heavy sink to it. Plus, what was the point of calling him up if he's gonna sit around doing nothing all the time in the pen? Especially with Wagner out, the kid should get a shot.

Kunz appears to be much better at attacking the strikezone than Heilman, but I guess that's not saying much. The one obvious knock is that he seems reluctant to throw off-speed or breaking pitches. Kunz has a decent slider; he'll have to use it more often.

Also, Jerry should have forced front office moves at this point. The Mets' bullpen is an absolute joke. Joe Smith and Carlos Muniz simply don't belong in the major leagues. Everyone seems to remain optimistic with Smith, but the guy has only two pitches, and no heart. He's a virtual lock for failure in a close game. Muniz is just horrible -- we all know it. Scott Schoeneweis seems content to throw an 89-mph flat fastball on every pitch; that's also a problem. Duaner Sanchez is clearly finished.

If Omar Minaya is not going to make a waiver move for a reliever, Jerry has to force some sort of change. Either John Maine or Mike Pelfrey should be shifted to the 8th inning, with lefty prospect Jon Niese or Claudio Vargas occupying the 5th spot in the rotation. Hard-throwing Brian Stokes should also remain on the big league roster.

Here's my optimal seven-man bullpen for the remainder of the season:

Mop Up/6th inning: Schoeneweis and Heilman; 7th inning: Stokes and Kunz (Feliciano if necessary situationally); 8th inning: Maine and Feliciano; 9th: Wagner.

Right: Jerry avoids a dead spot at the bottom of the order.

Manuel does a better job of balancing the lineup than Willie did. On nights when Argenis Reyes gets the start at second base, he's the third-weakest hitter in the order, after the pitcher and regular catcher Brian Schneider. Instead of batting Argenis 7th, where he would belong in order of ability, Jerry bats him second. That pushes either Tatis or Murphy down to the 7-spot, giving the lineup more depth.

There were times when Willie had a slumping Chavez batting 7th, with Schneider behind him and then the pitcher. Basically, that's three automatic outs. Not good.

Wrong: The way Jerry has handled Endy Chavez lately.

Chavez has gotten the shaft during Manuel's reign. When Jerry was totally out of decent outfield options, he stuck Endy out there in right field and batted him second for awhile. Endy proceeded to pick his batting average up over 60 points, and played excellent defense (as usual) in the corner outfield spots. All of a sudden, Murphy, Argenis and Evans are the only guys who bat second. Murphy and Evans are in a pretty strict platoon in left now, too.

Unfair to Endy. He was arguably a better No. 2 hitter than Luis Castillo during his extended streak in the spot this season. I can't argue with the way Murphy has played, but there has to be a little luck there for Jerry. No one expected a .305 minor league hitter to get promoted and bat .600 with a couple of homers right out of the gate. Granted, Murphy appears to have a little more polished approach to hitting than Endy. But Endy finds a way.

Any way we look at it, the injuries have been killer. Here's the lineup I hope to see during the pennant race:

1-Jose Reyes-SS, 2-Luis Castillo-2B, 3-David Wright-3B, 4-Carlos Delgado-1B, 5-Carlos Beltran-CF, 6-Ryan Church-RF, 7-Fernando Tatis-LF, 8-Ramon Castro-C.

With Damion Easley mixing in occasionally at second, and Murphy/Chavez spelling Church/Tatis when necessary. Also, Jerry, please get Schneider outta there. Castro gives the Mets a better chance to win, day in and day out. Schneider hits like a pitcher. 

Right: Omar Minaya's decision to fire Willie Randolph and name Jerry Manuel interim manager.

Wrong: Not re-signing Manuel and making his manager title official.

I guess that decision will depend on the stretch run. I think Manuel has earned it either way.